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Cañon City High School teacher Mike Geesaman retires after 45 years

Longtime Cañon City High School teacher Mike Geesaman, who retired this semester, points to a photo of his students. (Sara Knuth / Daily Record)

Mike Geesaman was in college, studying to become an industrial engineer, when he started volunteering in a first-grade classroom.

He had just met his wife, Jacqueline Geesaman, he said, "and she was a first-grade teacher."

So, he started working with her students.

"And that was the last time I really thought about being an engineer," he said.

In January, more than 45 years later, Geesaman was completing his final month as a design and drafting teacher at Cañon City High School. His legacy, which can be found in generations of students who went on to become engineers, is also wrapped around the walls of CCHS's "Red Hall," which displays the design work of his students.

Mike Geesaman works with students in 2013. (Daily Record)

But until Jan. 31, Geesaman was working out of a storage closet, just around the corner from his former classroom.

"He currently is working in a janitor's closet down in Red Hall, because he doesn't want to overshadow the new teacher teaching his classroom," CCHS principal Bill Summers said in January. "Obviously, when you have a 45-year legacy, students tend to look at you a lot as the expert."

For Levi Green, a CCHS junior who was in his class for two semesters, Geesaman's influence likely will last past high school. When he graduates, Green said he plans to join the military and then go to college to major in civil engineering.

"If I hadn't taken the class with Mr. G, I doubt I'd be thinking anywhere near there," Green said. "Mr. G is such a great guy, and teacher, all in one."

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Praise like this is common for Geesaman, whose former students have gone on to become engineers, doctors, lawyers and teachers.

But Geesaman said he prefers the attention to go to his students, who have received plenty of praise on their own.

Under the design and drafting program, which officially falls under the American Design Drafting Association, students regularly win national competitions, including the National Drafting and Design Contest.

"We've won the national championship the last 22 years in a row," Geesaman said. "Last year, we had 16 national winners in our class. The other schools across the nation had seven."

In an email Geesaman received about this year's entries, ADDA President Ron McDonald wrote that CCHS was "blowing away" projects submitted by college students.

Additionally, the students have worked on projects for the city of Cañon City, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and "just about every place that's a non-profit," Geesaman said.

As his students have gone on to this level of success, though, Geesaman has stayed put. Outside of teaching a few college classes and working with online students, Geesaman's career has been spent at CCHS since 1972.

Eight years ago, his retirement was technically official, though he still worked regularly.

"This is the only place I've ever worked for 45 years," he said. "Well, I don't really call it work."

So when it came to looking for a replacement, Geesaman was in for a long process.

"Anybody that could qualify for this job could make at least $100,000 in (the) industry," he said. "And so, who would do it?"

For eight years, Geesaman looked for someone with industry certifications. As he searched, he was officially retired, sometimes getting paid and other times working as a volunteer.

Then, three years ago, CCHS history and psychology teacher Scott Smith decided to start working on those certifications. Smith previously had Geesaman as a teacher at CCHS.

"He has the same calling," Geesaman said. "If he took those certifications and left here, he could be one of those $100,000-plus people. But he likes kids, and he wants to go on with it. So, I am blessed with a good replacement."

And, he added, "after three years of intensive training, he's over there teaching what I used to teach, and doing it better."

Once Geesaman stopped teaching the class in January — he stayed around to help Smith adjust — the Cañon City School District lost one of five Geesamans. In May, the district will lose another: Jacqueline Geesaman, who still teaches first-grade at Lincoln School of Science and Technology, plans to retire, too.

As much as Geesaman's legacy exists in engineering, it also will live on in education. Both of his sons and his daughter-in-law work the district. Matthew Geesaman is a history teacher at CCHS, Michael Geesaman works in the support services department and Kristen Geesaman teaches science at Harrison K-8 School.

But it's not over for Geesaman yet. He said he still plans to return to CCHS to help Smith, at least while he figures out what to do in his retirement.

"I'm going to have to think that out," he said. "I've been doing this for 45 years, so I'll have to get a different calling, or at least slow down on the one I have."

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